The present invention generally pertains to voice-activated command systems and speech recognition applications. More specifically, the present invention pertains to methods and apparatus for executing a task in a voice-activated command system in conjunction with prompting a user for instructions.
Voice-activated command systems typically present to a user a list of possible actions to be taken, and wait for the user to select an item from the list. Time to completion of the selected action or task is frequently an important factor in evaluating system performance. Advanced users of a voice-activated command system are typically capable of learning to navigate through the prompt process more quickly, thereby potentially shortening the time to completion of the eventually selected action or task. However, to make the system usable by naïve users, the prompt process is such that it frequently slows down the overall system.
One such type of voice-activated command system is automatic voice-dialing systems. Automatic voice-dialing systems are high-volume systems that need to cater to both advanced and naïve users. Time-to-completion (how long it takes for a caller to be connected to the person he or she is trying to reach) is one of the most important metrics, but as mentioned, attempts to make the system usable by naïve users will often slow down the overall system. Advanced users can be expected to learn to use ‘mixed-initiative’ (i.e., to provide more information than the system has requested, in order to minimize the number of dialog turns), but naïve users are expected to provide only the information requested at each turn.
Because it is difficult to personalize a voice-dialing system based on the caller's history, making a system that is both ‘fast’ (short time-to-completion) and ‘full’ (usable by naïve users) is challenging. A particular case in a voice-dialing system is the ability to reach a contact at one of multiple phone numbers. Advanced users might learn that they can specify which number they would like to call during, for example, the confirmation prompt (System: “Am I right with John Smith?”→User: “Yes, call the cell phone”). Unless naïve users are given an explicit opportunity to choose which number to call, however, they will never realize this feature exists. Thus an extra dialog turn is required, which slows the overall system, even if callers almost always choose one type of number (e.g., the office number is chosen 95% of the time). While these specific examples are provided with reference to a voice-dialing system, these difficulties are experienced by a wide variety of voice-activated command systems.
The present invention provides solutions to one or more of the above-described problems and/or provides other advantages over the prior art.